Over the past five years, the House Ear Institute (HEl) has lost key investigators in the areas of auditory and communication neuroscience, as well as cell and molecular biology. If not remedied through new recruitment of investigators, it is in danger of falling below the critical mass necessary to sustain a vital research environment. To enable successful recruitment of new investigators, HEl recently reorganized the research programs into two cores (divisions): Cell Biology and Genetics (CB&G) and Communication and Auditory Neuroscience (CAN). In both areas we have opened searches, conducted interviews, and for CAN, selected a preferred candidate. Financial difficulties have restricted our ability to offer the selected person a position and so we are requesting funding through the ARRA P30 mechanism to support recruitment of a new scientist for each core. HEl provides an ideal environment for the study of hearing disorders, and is striving to fill a need for strengthened research in the CAN core by the recruitment of a neurophysiologist, and for the CB&G core in the area of either gene regulation (hair cell regeneration) or human genetics. A considerable level of institutional support (65%) is proposed that will guarantee the continued success of the new recruits for a minimum of 5 years beyond the proposed funding, i.e., for a total of 7 years.